How to disable sport mode on the Go2 - Low level control
Recently, a few people asked me how I control the Go2 in low-level mode and how I managed to disable Sport Mode.
By default, the Unitree Go2 operates in high-level Sport Mode, which handles motion planning and stability for you. While convenient for most users, Sport Mode restricts access to low-level commands—making precise or custom motions impossible.
Sport Mode runs directly on the MCU, and the ROS topics for low-level control and sport mode are inserted straight into the DDS. This means that the mode is not a separate Node you can simply shut down using standard ROS lifecycle management. Simply publishing low-level commands without disabling Sport Mode would result in loud noises and unpredictable behavior, potentially harming the robot.
To solve this, I wrote a few python scripts that releases Sport Mode and allow low-level control.
Safely Laying Down the Robot
When you release Sport Mode, the motors are no longer actively actuated. The robot, which typically stands up during startup, would simply collapse—potentially damaging components. To mitigate this, I wrote a script to safely lay the robot down:
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# ===============================================================
# Purpose: Safely lay down the Unitree Go2 before disabling Sport Mode
# Author: Eric Elbing, 2025
# License: Provided as-is, no warranty. Use at your own risk.
# ===============================================================
HIGHLEVEL = 0xEE
LOWLEVEL = 0xFF
import sys
import time
from unitree_sdk2py.comm.motion_switcher.motion_switcher_client import MotionSwitcherClient
from unitree_sdk2py.core.channel import (ChannelFactoryInitialize,
ChannelPublisher, ChannelSubscriber)
from unitree_sdk2py.go2.sport.sport_client import SportClient
from unitree_sdk2py.utils.crc import CRC
class Custom:
def __init__(self):
self.crc = CRC()
def Init(self):
self.sc = SportClient()
self.sc.SetTimeout(5.0)
self.sc.Init()
print("SportClient initialized")
self.sc.StandDown()
time.sleep(1)
if __name__ == '__main__':
print("WARNING: Please ensure that you know what you are doing!")
input("Press Enter to continue...")
if len(sys.argv)>1:
ChannelFactoryInitialize(0, sys.argv[1])
else:
ChannelFactoryInitialize(0)
print("Initialized!")
custom = Custom()
print("SportClient created")
custom.Init()
print("Go2 ready for SportMode release")
time.sleep(1)
print("Done!")
sys.exit(-1)
time.sleep(1)
Similarly, you can make the robot stand up safely by replacing line 28 with:
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self.sc.StandUp()
Disabling Sport Mode
to disable the sport mode i wrote the following script, which uses the MotionSwitcherClient to transition from high-level to low-level control safely:
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# ===============================================================
# Purpose: Disable Sport Mode on Unitree Go2 and enable low-level control
# Author: Eric Elbing, 2025
# License: Provided as-is, no warranty. Use at your own risk.
# ===============================================================
HIGHLEVEL = 0xEE
LOWLEVEL = 0xFF
import sys
import time
from unitree_sdk2py.comm.motion_switcher.motion_switcher_client import MotionSwitcherClient
from unitree_sdk2py.core.channel import (ChannelFactoryInitialize,
ChannelPublisher, ChannelSubscriber)
from unitree_sdk2py.go2.sport.sport_client import SportClient
from unitree_sdk2py.utils.crc import CRC
class Custom:
def __init__(self):
self.crc = CRC()
def Init(self):
self.msc = MotionSwitcherClient()
self.msc.SetTimeout(5.0)
self.msc.Init()
print("MotionSwitcher initialized")
self.msc.ReleaseMode()
time.sleep(1)
if __name__ == '__main__':
print("WARNING: Please ensure that you know what you are doing!")
input("Press Enter to continue...")
if len(sys.argv)>1:
ChannelFactoryInitialize(0, sys.argv[1])
else:
ChannelFactoryInitialize(0)
print("Initialized!")
custom = Custom()
print("SportClient created")
custom.Init()
print("SportMode released")
time.sleep(1)
print("Done!")
sys.exit(-1)
time.sleep(1)
Once executed, the Go2 is unlocked and ready to receive low-level motion commands using ROS. Below is an example demonstrating the “Stand Up” procedure, controlled by my reinforcement learning agent—a set of neural networks capable of walking in different styles:
